Celeste is participating in a wonderful weekly workshop this summer hosted by Chris Sallie of Island Food Skills Initiative. This week, we visited Glasgow Glen Farm to learn about the making of Gouda cheese from Chef Jeff McCourt and to learn how to make cheese fondue with Chris.
Chef Jeff McCourt gave us a tour of his cheese making operation. It was cleaning day today so no cheese were being made, but Chef Jeff explained the process to us and the machines involved. He also explained how the milk comes to him and that process. The milk he uses is from PEI, from a dairy farm that treats their cows very nicely. He mentioned music being played to them, and how happy cows make better milk.
They make sixteen different flavours of Gouda cheese, including Bluda which mixes blue cheese and Gouda, fenugreek, cumin, pizza, to name just a few! They also make sheep milk Gouda, which is great for people that are lactose intolerant.
It was very interesting to listen to Chef Jeff and how he came into the business of making cheese, along with his connection to the Cheeselady Gouda's Shop. You can read more of his story on his website: Glasgow Glen Farm: Our Story.
Glasgow Glen Farm also has a delicious bakery on site, with a huge wood burning oven. They make bread and pizzas daily in the wood burning oven. We sampled the country bread with a little bruschetta mix (also available on site), very tasty!
Chef Jeff mentioned that his vision was to possibly be a stop for people on a way to a picnic, to offer cheese but also fresh bread or a pizza. He has succeeded, in my opinion. A selection of cold drinks were available too, as well as bruschetta, hummus, cheese + bread trays, and baked goods.
I think a stop at Glasgow Glen Farm would be perfect on the way to the beach, like Cavendish Beach for example! The Gouda cheeses are also available for purchase online (see order here).
The second part of Celeste's workshop was the cooking demonstration by Chris. He made cheese fondue with three different Gouda cheeses, using chicken stock he had made as a base.
The fondue was truly delicious. He had asked everyone to bring a thermos, which is a great idea to make fondue portable. Celeste was able to bring some home to share with her dad. Everyone enjoyed the fondue with pieces of bread, apple and pear slices, even banana slices!
This was a wonderful Prince Edward Island Gouda experience that Celeste and I both enjoyed very much. She is learning so much about cooking and local food through this Island Food Skills Initiative workshop!
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